All of these photographs were shot while snorkeling at Baby Beach in Aruba. There are many beaches in Aruba but Baby Beach is particularly gentle because there's a natural breakwater that protects the beach and the water is very shallow until quite a distance out to sea. All of the beaches on the west side of Aruba are safe for swimming but Baby Beach is certainly the safest for children.

A Canon S45 digital camera was used for all of the pictures. A transparent case for use underwater is available from Canon and it protected the camera perfectly. You'll find more information on the camera hardware that I use on my Photo Gallery Home Page.

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The water was stirred up by the surf and was rather more cloudy than usual but it was still fascinating to see what was swimming around. The water is ordinarily crystal-clear and the cloudiness is just dust swept up from the bottom.

You can see the sand is pure white and it's almost like dust so it doesn't take much to stir it up.

Even snorkeling, you can find some fairly good-size fish and they couldn't care less about you swimming around them.

The zebra-striped fish were fairly common.

There was some turbulence of the water and that is what got the seaweed floating around. It seems like it might be bothersome but it really isn't.

I can't promise that you'll find a mermaid in these waters but all I can say is this: I did!